Along with fellow musician Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside didn’t see any fame until he was well into his ’70s. He spent much of his life living in poverty playing the blues in his native Holly Springs, Mississippi. It wasn’t until he was signed to the Mississippi independent Fat Possum record label in the early 1990s […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Idioteque” by Radiohead
For a while there, Radiohead took on the mantle that Pink Floyd left behind in the 1970s. Both bands released a triumvirate of important influential albums: In Floyd’s case there was “Dark Side Of The Moon,” “Wish You Were Here” and “Animals,” not to mention the Sid Barrett years that preceded them. With Radiohead, we […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Free Design” by Stereolab
Stereolab’s sound melded European lounge pop with progressive rock to form some of the most pleasurable music of the 1990s. On stage, they were capable of fierce extended psychedelic wig-outs which moved them into early Pink Floyd territory, except they always had the smooth emotionless voices of Laetitia Sadier and Mary Hansen floating above the […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Two Princes” by Spin Doctors
Whatever happened to The Spin Doctors? They seemingly came out of nowhere in the 1990s to dominate the charts, only to fade away just as fast. The band formed in New York around vocalist Chris Barron and guitarist Eric Schenkman. An earlier version of the band also featured John Popper who went on to form […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “We Will Commit Wolf Murder” by of Montreal
of Montreal formed in 1996 around key member Kevin Barnes and was part of the Elephant 6 collective that gave us the bands Apples In Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control, Beulah and Neutral Milk Hotel. Their sound is a little bit Prince, a little bit Bowie, some Queen, a heaping helping of prog rock and an […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Something Came Over Me” by Wild Flag
Featuring members of Sleater-Kinney, Helium and The Minders, Wild Flag joined forces last year labeled a supergroup. I always thought supergroups happened when members of really well-known bands came together to form new bands with even more marquee strength. With Wild Flag, Sleater-Kinney is the only band of the three that ever made a dent […]
Song Of the Day by Eric Berman – “Midnight City” by M83
France’s M83 is so epically 1980s that even the band’s name references the decade. In actuality, M83 named themselves for a celestial galaxy called Messier 83 and the “band” really boils down to French musician Anthony Gonzalez and whomever he chooses to work with on a project. This song comes from their breakthrough 6th album, […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Everyday I Love You Less And Less” by Kaiser Chiefs
Seven years is a lifetime in the music industry, and so it goes for Kaiser Chiefs. Their debut album, “Employment,” hit the shelves in 2005 giving fans a collection of taught exhilarating early XTC-inspired songs harking back to late ’70s New Wave and Punk Rock. They have released three subsequent albums to less acclaim especially […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – "Let England Shake" by PJ Harvey
America doesn’t have the same relationship with Polly Jean Harvey as does England. Here her albums are met with a shrug except by a fervent minority who wait on her every word. Over the pond, her latest record topped most of the critic’s lists for best album of last year. Her “Let England Shake” album […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – "Making Plans For Nigel" by XTC
I had my iPod at the New Year’s Eve party I attended this evening and at one point we played the XTC album “Black Sea.” Now I was fortunate to see them on tour in 1980 behind that album and little did I know at the time that it would be their last tour ever […]
